15 September 2010
I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can't. I do what I don't want to--what I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking. Romans 7:15-16, Living Bible
A church. A high school. A day-care center. A hospital. An apartment complex. A stock brokerage office. A subway in London. The World Trade Center. And the list grows longer with memory. What is happening is not simply an isolated incident in one part of the world where a "crazy" releases his venom and attacks society. It is a sickness which has permeated the entire planet.
Some have called it "the dark side of our modern culture" which emphasizes violence and destruction. Hate crimes. Others think of it as the venom of isolation and loneliness, the product of deranged minds. We know in some cases it is the result of irrational hatred, innocent men and women, teens, and children suffer.
What is happening today targets every segment of life: government, gender, geography, and religious beliefs. Nothing or nobody is excluded. And in spite of the prevalence of violence today, historians will tell you that what is happening is not peculiar to this generation. It's been with us for a long time.
The Bible calls it sin, something that bears a moral connotation in today's world which has brought the word into public disfavor. Yet clearly the rebellion against civility, against decency, and against others--whether they happen to be working in the top tech company SAS in North Carolina or living in the luxurious Stratford Residences in Makati, or traveling in a Tokyo subway--is universal.
Yes, we are horrified at the way individuals are violated and innocent people suffer. Yes, it is somewhat comforting for us to label those who cause the violence as mentally deranged when in fact many of them are perfectly sane. The problem is the heart, not their head.
The Bible describes sin in a variety of ways: missing the mark as when an arrow goes astray and falls short of the target; going astray in an act of purposeful disobedience, and rebellion, refusing to acknowledge or yield to God's purpose or direction. The Bible also says that this flaw, stemming from Adam's fall in the Garden, is universal. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" was Paul's pronouncement in Romans 3:23.
One theologian wrote that the dregs of darkness of the worst individual in the world are resident in the best of men and women. It is little wonder that scores of people have looked at hardened criminals, prostitutes, and addicts and said, "There go I but for the grace of God.
The fact is that none of us is exempted for this spiritual malady which brought Christ to the cross, paying the price for our sin and rebellion but also paving the way for our natures to be changed by the regeneration of God's Holy Spirit.
The Good News is that there is a remedy for the darkness of our souls which the Bible calls sin. Paul said that "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). The problem is spiritual and so is the fix for man's dark side: it is the grace of God that changes our natures, our destinies, and our futures.
Nothing can do more to change our society and our culture than an understanding of God's will and purpose for our lives. Before you write off what is happening as simply craziness, take a deep look into your soul, and ask yourself if apart from the grace of God which changed your life, you yourself might not also be a victim of misaligned hatred and wrong. In the same discussion Paul said, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Yes, there go I but for the grace of God.
Resource reading: 2 Corinthians 5:11-21.